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The United States will have a chance to make history on Saturday at the World Cup. A win over the Netherlands would equal the deepest run in the World Cup made by the men’s national team. However, with multiple health concerns, there are concerns around the likes of players like Christian Pulisic, Weston Mckennie and Josh Sargent. Pulisic was already deemed cleared to play, which is a positive sign. You can follow our live updates of the game here.
Who do our experts think will be fit to start the match, and which players should round out the starting XI? Check out the picks of the crew from In Soccer We Trust below, as ex-USMNTers Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies, and Heath Pearce pick their preferred starting XI — — and while you’re at it, sign up for our new newsletter covering the beautiful game in all its glory, including daily updates about the World Cup, here.
USMNT (projected) starting lineups
CBS Sports
Charlie Davies’ preferred XI:
Matt Turner; Sergino Dest, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson; Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie; Tim Weah, Josh Sargent, Christian Pulisic.
CBS Sports
Heath Pearce starting XI
Turner; Dest, Zimmerman, Ream, Robinson; Adams, Musah, McKennie; Weah, Sargent, Pulisic.
Jimmy Conrad’s starting XI
Turner; Dest, Zimmerman, Ream, Robinson; Adams, Musah, McKennie; Weah, Sargent, Pulisic.
As you can see there’s not a lot of disagreement among the three hosts. If Sargent is healthy everybody wants him to start. The only real question is whether Walker Zimmerman comes back into the team or if Cameron Carter-Vickers keeps his place next to Tim Ream at center back. That’s a remarkable development for a team that wasn’t sure of its best XI coming into the match. For more from these guys, make sure to check out In Soccer We Trust: A CBS Sports Soccer Podcast where your three favorite former USMNT players cover everything you could possibly want to know about the United States men’s national team during the World Cup in Qatar.
How to watch and odds
Date: Saturday, Dec. 3 Netherlands vs. United States